I'm pretty new to higher quality home espresso machines, and this is my first one worth even discussing in public. I did a fair amount of research, here and elsewhere, and decided on the Duetto III for its reputation, price (relative price) and esthetics. Because I was doing a fair amount of learning I can't tease out where my abilities and the Duetto's abilities overlapped, but after several months it's only gotten better and better. I've been tweaking my grinder (Mazzer super jolly), roasts (mostly Blue Bottle these days) and technique and I can routinely get beautiful results.

I'm running at 15amps because I have it set up to a smart switch that I have programed to turn on 45min before I wake, and turn off when I leave home. I can also turn it on remotely when I'm headed home, etc... So no waiting around for it to heat up. There are no 20amp smart switches out there, but if there were I'd go that direction. That said, with low volume home use I've not noticed any issue on 15amps.

I'm still trying out the location so I haven't plumbed it up. That would be a big bonus because it's heavy enough to be a slight pain to refill the reservoir.

One irksome issue. About a month after I bought it The plastic decal for the coffee boiler light came off. Turns out the front panel has a few decals that are made to look like pressed metal. On the machines left side is the larger Alex Duetto insignia, and on the right there are two details, one for the coffee and the other for the steam boiler. The coffee boiler decal just rubbed off when I was wiping it down one day. I think the heat simply loosened the glue. The other decals have been fine but I treat them gingerly when the machine is warm. It'd probably increase the cost a bit, but a real pressed steel face would go a long way to improve this and give it a more truly industrial feel.

Buying Experience

Bought this from Chris Coffee. They were quick, responsive, knowledgable and professional. What else could you want? I searched around and found very little price variation and nothing that could tempt me to buy from a less reliable source.